‘Lilo & Stitch’ Director Got ‘Frustrated’ by ‘Frozen’ Praise: We Did Sisterhood Over Romance First

variety.com:

Zack Sharf When “Frozen” broke through the pop culture zeitgeist upon release in 2013, it was widely celebrated for how it rejected the romantic standards of the Disney animated fairy tale.

The heart of “Frozen” was the relationship between sisters Anna and Elsa, not either characters’ connection to a man. There was no prince saving the day or “true love’s first kiss” shared between a man and a woman.

Moviegoers hailed “Frozen” for prioritizing sisterhood, but such praise made “Lilo & Stitch” co-director Chris Sanders a bit aggravated.“To be clear, I think ‘Frozen’s’ great,” Sanders recently told The New York Times while celebrating “Lilo & Stitch’s” 20th anniversary. “But it was a little bit frustrating for me because people were like, ‘Finally, a nonromantic relationship with these two girls,’ and I thought, ‘We did that!

That has absolutely been done before.’” “Lilo & Stitch” opened 20 years ago in June 2002, 11 years before “Frozen.” While the film is not a fairytale, it did subvert Disney’s long-running trend of animated romances.